Christmas from Menlo Eleven

Check out videos from this service here: MENLO ELEVEN CHRISTMAS SERVICE

Matt Whitney - Seattle Artist

UPC ADVENT PAINTING from Andrew Pearson on Vimeo.

Hey friends,
There are few people that I've met who have shaped my understanding of art in the church as much as this fellow.  He is a dear brother and fellow creative soul.

Check out his work and philosophy of art at www.matthewwhitney.com
Or follow him on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mattwhitneyart

Highlights from "Jazz" Menlo 11

Thanks to everyone who made this possible!
It's so good for us to experience worship in a different way than we're used to!  
It helps us to remember what worship is really about. See you Sunday!
-timothydavid

Mp3 of the Week - 11.29.09

An oldie but a goodie: "Living Water" from Sanctuary last night.

See you next weekend friends!

-timothydavid

Menlo 11 tomorrow!

This weekend we have a great combo coming in to lead us in worship.
The mp3 posted is a preview of one of the songs they will be playing for us.

DON'T MISS THIS WEEKEND!

Here are the players we have this weekend:
Piano: Hardy Hemphill
Bass: Jared Milos
Drums: Kent Reed
Sax/Flute: Chazz Alley
Vocals: Tim Williams, Julie Glazener, Kerah Richardson
Acoustic: Tim Williams

Menlo 11 "You'll Come"

See you Sunday, friends!

Thomas Merton

These pages are from a book I love, "Dialogues with Silence" by the trappist monk Thomas Merton. This book is a collection of Merton's conversations with God through prose and sketch that I find most moving and inspiring in my own pursuit of the Holy. My advice: buy this book--grab a latte, and go sit on a park bench in the sun.

-timothydavid

The song of the week
This is a version of "It is Well" featuring Debbie Shaeffer from menlo 11 this last weekend. Debbie, way to rock it!

The sermon of the week
There are a number of sermon podcasts that I subscribe to weekly. So I decided to post my favorite pick of the week each Monday.

This week I'm featuring Pastor Scott Scruggs' talk from Sanctuary last night titled: "What about Hell?" This is perhaps the most informed and most powerful sermon I have ever heard on the subject. I encourage you all to find time to listen to it.
Subscribe to the Podcasts from Sanctuary at: www.sanc.info

Blessings friends,

-timothydavid

U2 Live from the Rose Bowl

I mean...duh. These guys are such a fantastic band! I wish we could have been there!

2 1/2 hours long! That's amazing! The only other 2 1/2 hour concert I've been to is Hillsong United.

...at 38:20 Bono names the Edge "the zen Presbyterian"...gotta love those Presbo's!

Mp3 of the Week - 11.08.09

Here is the highlight reel from worship last night.
Thanks team! Way to worship God with everything you've got!

Featuring:
Vox/Acoustic: Tim Williams
Vox: Kerah Richardson
Drums: Paul Carter
Bass: Jared Milos
Keys: Brittany Williams
Electric: Dave Evans

If you missed Sanctuary last night...there is always next week. www.sanc.info

The Elephant in the Church

Pastor Scott Scruggs

Don't miss Sanctuary this weekend! Sunday night at 7:05 pm.
700 Santa Cruz, Menlo Park, CA

Heaven and Earth - Phil Wickham

This is Phil's new album that is set to release on November 17th. I had the chance to get it a bit early at one of his shows.
EVERYONE should buy this album. You can find out more info at www.philwickham.com
I think it may be one of the best christian albums released this year. We've already started doing some his new stuff at Sanctuary.

Check it out!

-timothydavid

...and we're back...

We have taken a hiatus from posting for a couple weeks due to some retreats and crazy planning schedules.

Here is a video from this last week at Menlo 11. See you this Sunday.

mp3 of the week

Here is an mp3 from our worship time at Sanctuary last night.
Cody Wiesen led us in the song "Your Love Never Fails" by Jesus Culture.

Such a fantastic song that speaks about God's unfailing love based on the scriptures Romans 8:28, 38

Check them out at: http://www.jesusculturemusic.org/
They are truly an anointed group of worship leaders!

Before Coffee Was Cool

Whenever the topic of coffee drinking comes up, I joke about being discriminated against as a tea drinker. Meetings at work usually offer coffee, not tea, and the loser alternative of tepid, plain water. How did I end up a tea drinker when both of my parents consumed gallons of it every week? Genetically, as a daughter of a Swede who started drinking coffee at 12, I should be addicted to the stuff. As I've always explained, my parents drank coffee before coffee was cool. There's a hipness integrated into coffee that never existed when I was growing up; it was that strangely bittersweet smell that wafted out of a Thermos in the front seat of our Clubwagon van, drifting backward and permanently imprinting on our brains as the smell of early morning departures on long family road trips. But there were no coffeehouses with trendy wall colors and racks of branded cafe merch. You drank coffee for what it was, not how it made you fit in to the coffee culture. 

When I say my parents drank coffee before coffee was cool, it's with a mixture of affection and pride. It's somehow symbolic of their independence of empty trendiness and paints a reassuring picture of their steadiness over time, the way parents should be. 

Having been involved in leading music at church since I was a kid, I've seen a similar evolution from something that was simply practiced and developed in local churches into a mega industry of worship recording artists, concerts, worship leader magazines and conferences, etc.etc.etc. with huge followings. It's amusing to me that I was doing something before it was cool and now it has practically surpassed all the other Christian music out there in popularity.

It's good, though- all this creative energy being put into the experience and expression of a new generation of God-followers. Clearly, there is a longing that has been tapped into, and it's very exciting to be a part of it as we are called to be. What do you think? Do you remember a time, not so long ago, before worship music was cool? How does this surge in "big names in worship" affect us as individuals and as local churches? How can we experience unity in the larger church while being committed to our own local communities as expressed through our music?...

You Hold Me Now - menlo11

Last week at menlo 11. See you next week, friends.

A Whole Life

As a worshiper of the triune God it is important that we let people see a whole life that praises and loves Him.

A whole life is not just what happens on the platform or in the walls of a building on Sunday morning. There is nothing sacred about a building. There is nothing sacred about a platform. That is not to say that a place cannot hold meaning for anyone that ascribes meaning to it; however, in Gods eyes--buildings are material. Stages are wood (usually). Songs are just notes and melodies. He dwells in people.

A whole life addresses the question. The world's questions about God have very little to do with music, production quality or often even what we 'know' about God. It's all about how you live and how you let God shine through your own life--and true, Godly living is rooted in a heart after God.

A whole life is messy--we are not perfect people though our hearts may be right. However, we should be disciplined people. I'm not talking about self-deprecation. I'm talking about the kind of discipline that helps you get in shape before a marathon or leads to a higher quality of musicianship or even leads to a deeper, more intimate relationship with God. We fall--we get back up. We keep on running after God and it is imperative that we let people see that.

A whole life shines with the good truth of Christ. Who are you sharing His love with today? Whether with your words or with your actions. How are we sharing His love and His good news? We all have ample opportunity in every day we live. Are we stepping out? Are we being His hands, His feet, His words to this world.

Striving for the whole life,

timothydavid

Weekly MP3's

Just to let you know--I'll be posting weekly mp3's from one of the worship experiences we had the previous weekend. Also--keep your eyes open for videos from our services!

This weeks mp3 is from a worship service at our Young Adult gathering, Sanctuary, that meets every Sunday night. The song is "Speak to Me" by Dave Lubben.

If you're a young adult in the bay area looking for a place to worship with people in your same demographic you should check Sanctuary out!

timothydavid

worship: words from our heroes

I understand true worship to be when one’s spirit adores & connects with the Spirit of God, when the very core of one’s being is found loving Him, lost in Him. -Darlene Zschech

God first seeks devotion to Him in the hidden place–worship when no one else is watching. -Matt Redman

A sense of God’s supernatural presence is the first essential of real worship . . . Unfortunately, we humans have the ability to shut God out of our lives. As R.C. Sproul concludes, we put on blindfolds & go through our days as if God did not exist. Even as Christians we need to be reawakened to the ‘presence of God’s majesty & glory.’ -Sally Morgenthaler

…”spiritual songs” are most likely unrehearsed and improvised, perhaps short melodies or choruses extolling the beauty of Christ. They aren’t prepared in advance but are prompted by the Spirit and thus are uniquely and especially appropriate to the occasion or the emphasis of the moment. -Dr. Sam Storms on Colossians 3:16

A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, ‘darkness’ on the walls of his cell. -C.S. Lewis

We sing in worship to engage and express our affections. There is no other reason to sing. If we aren’t dealing with our affections in worship, we might as well just read the lines of the songs dryly together in paragraph form without any music. We worship with music to because God has created music with a certain nature where it tends to move our affections deeply. -Jonathan Edwards

Worship rises or falls with our concept of God. -A. W. Tozer

Worship is the believer’s response of all that they are – mind, emotions, will, body – to what God is and says and does. -Warren Wiersbe

…regardless of how magnificent the musical moments are, unless one’s heart is fully engaged in the worship being expressed, it is still only music. -Darlene Zschech

my dad always told me...

At the WorshipGod 2009 conference. C.J. Mahaney and Bob Kauflin talk about how we can plan thoroughly but also be led by the Holy Spirit in corporate worship.

This is a very good word. Working in both Charismatic churches and Reformed churches I'm very familiar with both of these worlds and my belief is that we need both. On so many occasions God called His people to prepare for His moving in very specific ways (from Elijah prepping the sacrifice on Carmel--to the Disciples going and waiting in the upper room). He is a God of unfathomable power but He is also a God of order.

My dad who is an Assemblies of God pastor always told me, "Tim, work like it's up to you but pray like it's up to God."

To be honest, the danger is that when you work like it's up to you--it's easy to forget that it's up to God.

-timothydavid

"It takes one to break rank"

This guy is awesome.

"Be radical in your service to God, in your expression of love and devotion to Him. If you are radical, people around you will want to be radical too. It just takes one to break rank and it gives everyone else permission. You be the one to break rank, don't wait for someone else...you lead it."
- Darlene Zchech, extravagant worship

Of course, this dude isn't worshiping God--but he is embodying the principle of these words from Darlene. Word.

timothydavid

sleepy disappointment

I fell asleep Saturday night with great anticipation of sleeping in Sunday morning. Usually I wake up early in order to lead worship at our 8am traditional service. However, I had been given this particular morning off.

To my sleepy disappointment I awoke at about 5am, feeling stirred by the Spirit of God, to get up and spend some time with Him. goody. I can't tell you how enthused I was about losing precious sleep. So I reluctantly peeled myself out of bed in order to follow this prompt.

I tiptoed into our pitch dark office and set my Bible open faced on the floor and proceeded to close the door and turn on the light. When I came back to my bible this is what lay before me:

Isaiah 35
The desert and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, ² it will burst into bloom;
it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the LORD,
the splendor of our God.

³ Strengthen the feeble hands,
steady the knees that give way;

⁴ say to those with fearful hearts,
"Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
he will come to save you."

⁵ Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

⁶ Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.

⁷ The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
grass and reeds and papyrus will grow...

As a worship minister (I'm not officially ordained--but in the active sense of the word) I spend much of my week racking my brains about what cool, new elements we can add to our services to bring in a "wow" factor for the congregation that might tickle their artistic fancies just right and leave a lasting impression on them throughout the week. However, as I read and re-read this passage I am reminded very deeply that we don't come to church for a good show...at least we shouldn't. We come to church to meet, learn about, experience the living, all powerful, uncontainable God--and when that happens, when "he comes" so to speak--then the real stuff starts happening--not the cool lights and videos. I mean the REAL stuff like "the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert." Can you imagine what that would be like on a Sunday morning? Uncontainable.

So I am extremely grateful that God continues to remind me that it's not newer, cooler services that will bring people to Him--it's HIM that will bring people to Him. And it's just our job to lift Him up. Not just mine as a "worship leader"--ALL of us.

Now, don't get me wrong--I am 110% behind releasing the creative gifts of God's people for His glory and fame to be spread and known in this dry and thirsty land. If that looks like a sweet video, an amazing light show, a fantastic new or old song or I don't know...a kid break dancing for Jesus then bring it on! Let's go for it! But it's only when our hearts are aligned with the core of why we come to church that we are free to celebrate all the expressions of cool, new stuff and allow those things to fulfill there intended purpose. Yeah?

timothydavid